In The Dark - Coronavirus in the Delta E6: Delta State

Episode Date: June 11, 2020

College football is practically a religion in Mississippi. And for the players, it's life. As Covid-19 upended their world, the teammates at Delta State struggled to find structure and support for an off-season like no other.  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

So DSU moves the change, no score. It's the first time of the game for Delta State. We're approaching ten minutes to play in the first. Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. Colors, green and white. Official mascot, the statesman. Unofficial mascot, the fighting okra. Still looking. Hit as he throws. Caught.

Complete across the middle. Touchdown, Delta! The thing that I liked was our players stayed together, and I'm proud of them, because the second half I thought we played really well. Division II football, more than 100 players. Zane Samuel, I play defensive end. Emmanuel Barber, I play outside linebacker. Stanley Taylor, defensive line. My name is Devontre Henderson.

Oakley Coleman, wide receiver. Ennis Claude, offensive line, center. For these players, football isn't just about the game. For a lot of them, it's also a way to help pay for their education, to get a scholarship. And so, these players need football. And football needs them. When our football program is doing well, then our whole community is better. But then, in March, the pandemic hit.

Me, I've been scared to go outside, so I've been stuck in the house. Delta State went to online classes. They sound like classes are going to be online in summer, too. The players scattered. I'm back home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I live in Marietta, Georgia. Chicago, scattered. I'm back home in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I live in Marietta, of course. Chicago, Illinois. I'm in Dallas.

And football, spring practice, getting ready for the fall season, was basically put on hold. I'm missing making big plays, turning up with my teammates, missing the coaches. I'm missing the atmosphere. Missing all that, for real. This is In the Dark, Coronavirus in the Delta.

I'm Madeline Barron. I spent the past few months, along with the rest of the In the Dark team, reporting on coronavirus in the Mississippi Delta. Over the past several weeks, we've heard from doctors, nurses, pastors, politicians, prisoners, and musicians. In this episode, the last episode of the special report, we bring you the story of a football team. Our producer Natalie Jablonski and reporter Curtis Gilbert have been following the Delta State statesmen and their coach as they try to make it through to the end of the semester as a team, despite the pandemic that has forced them apart. Episode six, Delta State. April 15th, 26 days left in the semester. All right, I'm going to go ahead and get started.

The Delta State football team's weekly Zoom meeting. Family meeting tonight. It's good to see you guys. The faces I can see. I miss you guys a lot. Basically, a virtual locker room pep talk. We always talk about what's important now, guys. Led by head coach Todd Cooley. Pay attention to what I'm talking to you about because it's only going to be about five to six minutes and we're going to get off of here. There were about 70 people on the call.

Not everyone could make it. Players' faces were bobbing in and out of the tiny frames. A lot of guys were calling into the meeting on their phones. Some were driving or walking. One guy was holding a toddler. Next thing, please mute your phones. Academic, Frank, will you mute your phone, please? Corinthians, can you mute your phone, buddy?

Oh, I'm trying to right now, Cole. I'm back. You said, can I unmute it? Mute it. Coach Cooley tried to get the team to focus. We're 213 days out. Tell me what we're 213 days out from. Mississippi College.

BWC. 213 days out from Mississippi College. Mississippi College, one of Delta State's rivals. They play every year for a trophy called the Heritage Bell. It's a big wooden trophy with an actual bell on top. They put it in their locker room on a special table. Last year, they lost it. And in 213 days, they would have a chance to win it back.

Guys, listen to me very closely. We may not have the month of July to get you all in shape. Okay? the month of July to get you all in shape. Okay? We might not get to make up the practices that we missed in the spring. I'm talking worst-case scenario right now. Everybody understand what I'm saying?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So what I'm trying to tell y'all is this. Get your tails in condition. And there was something else Coach Cooley was stressing about. To keep their place on the team, his players needed to maintain a 2.0 grade point average. That works out to a C. Some of Coach Cooley's players were struggling to do that even before the pandemic. Now with the players scattered all over the place, trying to keep up with their classes was even harder.

I'm telling y'all right now, you guys have got to be eligible. You guys are trying to graduate on time. It's critical right now that you stay on top of this. Anybody else got anything? No, sir. I forgot how ugly all y'all were, but I miss y'all. Hey, man, we're going to do this together now. I forgot how ugly all y'all were, but I miss y'all. But you were like, you cute. Hey, man, we're going to do this together now.

We're going to get to play ball. We're going to do it together, baby. It's going to be a blast. I love y'all. Love you too, coach. I'm out of here. Okay, Coach Cooley, man, that's one crazy, energetic, loving and caring person. You know, you could tell when somebody's faking love and somebody's showing real love.

Well, he's playful when he's happy. And when he's serious, you can tell you don't want to mess with him when he's mad. He can be a real mellow guy and three seconds later, he could be going through the roof. You can just tell if he's mad. Oh, his face will turn red. He's very passionate about the game. So, you know, he takes it serious. Like, you know, some people might think he's too hard on them, but he really, you know, he wants the best for you. Coach Cooler's a guy, man.

He loves football to death, but he loves us even more. He tells us before and after every practice he loves us, but he's going to work the mess out of us. People ask me all the time, like, Coach, you got any kids? And I say, about 100 of them. Our producer Natalie has been talking to Coach Cooley. That's what I always say. About 100 of them? That's really how I look at it. About 100 of them, you got any kids? And I said, about 100 of them. Our producer Natalie has been talking to Coach Cooley. That's what I always say. About 100 of them?

That's really how I look at it. About 100 of them, you know? And I think that's our job as coaches. We have a responsibility. That's what we signed up for. We signed up for to affect young men's lives. Coach Cooley is used to having tight control over his team. He gets up in their business all the time.

So it's been hard for him to have his team spread out. We've got players from all across the country. And from every walk of socioeconomic life there is. We've got players that have money. We've got players that don't have anything. We've got players that are in a state where they've got curfew at 6 o'clock. We've got players that are in a state that don't have curfew at 6 o'clock, we've got players that are in a state that don't have curfew at all. You know, you just worry about everything.

He was worried they could get sick, that they might let their grades slip or their conditioning. He's worried some of them might not come back to school at all. Are they making the right decisions? Are they doing this? I think the day you quit worrying is the day you need to get out of this. Like you feel like it's your job to worry about them? 100%.

I mean, at the end of the day, you know, football's got an expiration date on it. And football's a great game, and it teaches you a lot about life. Obviously, I love it. I wouldn't do it. But this is about graduating, building in, and getting something out of this. And the thing that they need to get out of this is their education. So, this is the front of the house. Nothing too spectacular.

Baby girl. Hey, Jules. Say hi to the camera. My name is Devontre Henderson, D-A-V-O-N-T-R-E. I currently go to Delta State University. I play middle linebacker. That's our brothers and sisters. That's all of us right here. This is Kobe. This is Kobe.

I got four little brothers and two little sisters. 16, 13, 12, 10, and 8. And then the little girl, she's three. Three. The little single parent mother. This is the kitchen. This is my sister, Amaya Brown. Say hey.

Hello, hello. She's in here cooking, y'all. Say hey. Hello, hello. She's in here cooking, y'all. What are you cooking today? I think it's called zantini. I really don't know. You don't know? Are you cooking it?

I just seen it on Instagram and it looked good, so I made it. Well, I can't wait to try this out. You already tried it, so I made it myself. Oh, yeah, it was good. I did. Hey, mother, what are you doing? Hi, watching my cook. What's your name?

Siobhan Henderson. Well, you see your daughter's cooking. Teach you no well. Teach you no well. That's good. That's good. Devontree was raised by his mom with a lot of help from his uncle. He grew up in a really small town in Texas, the town of Coolidge, population 846. Mobile home, kind of tow up, beat up, like one acre of land around it.

Lots of joy, lots of tears, fun. You know, making the best out of what you have. That's the type of home it is. Devontree has the words, I do this for my mama, tattooed on his chest. When things are getting hard, he thinks about his mom, working three jobs. Just over the last past two weeks,

my mother, she done worked over 130 hours. She worked at the hospital here in the hill. She worked at a nursing home 30 minutes away. And then she worked at another nursing home here. I could just see in her eyes, you know, she tired. On his phone, Devontre keeps a picture of the mobile home where he grew up. That's my motivation, you know what I'm saying? That picture is going to change everything.

Because when I get successful and I buy my mama the mansion that she deserves, you know what I'm saying, that's what I'm going to show. This is where we started from. Devontre isn't banking on making it to the NFL. What Devontre wants is a career as an entrepreneur, to start a business. And college for Devontre is a big part of that. With a college degree, he's way more likely to have a good job and be able to support his family, to buy his mom a house. There's something his uncle told him that's really stuck with him. Y'all would tell me, like, you know, football, one day it's going to end, you know, you have

to get your education, you know. They could take football away from you, but they can't take your mind away. Your grades this semester looking okay? A reporter Curtis called Devontre to check in. Yeah, they're looking good. So, I mean, they're not the best, but, you know, I'm getting through it. I'm getting through it. Actually, Devontre was having some trouble in school. There's one class in particular, biology. It's hard to keep up with it.

There's so much stuff in biology, like, Lord have mercy. What kind of stuff are you learning in biology? Man, all types of crazy stuff, man. I don't see how people be biology majors. I said, man, there's too much information at once. Lord have mercy. But yeah, I mean, you know, I'm going to do my best, but it just, it's so crazy. Like when I took the other tests, like the past couple of weeks in biology, I was like, man, these's so crazy. Like when I took the other tests, like the past couple of weeks from biology, I was like, man, these tests are hard. Like, I don't know how people be,

you know what I'm saying? People be getting A's on. I be like, dude, like, did you, you know what I'm saying? Were you in the same class I was in? Cause I don't remember this stuff. Devontre and the rest of the Delta State players knew what they needed to do. Study, work out, study some more.

But there are just so many distractions. Like TV. I like Game of Thrones. Watching it for the first time, I'm digging it. So much TV. One of my teammates started watching Grey's Anatomy. And it's like 15 seasons after that. There were video games.

I recently did Plan Madden. There were jobs. Just got out of work. So I'm heading home. And kids. I got my son over here right now. He's about two in October. My daughter.

Her name is Michaela. She's three months. Waking up to kids running around, jumping on beds. They got a lot of energy. And everyday catastrophes of all kinds. One guy, in the middle of this pandemic, even had to dodge a tornado. It was a lot. April 19th. 22 days left in the semester. Coach Cooley called another meeting.

And this time... All right, I'm going to start taking roll. Deion Allen, you here? Here. This time he took attendance. His eyes scanned the screen as he checked to make sure everyone was there. All right, listen up.

Here's what I'm going to tell you. Not real happy with how our last team meeting went at all. Coach Cooley felt like the players weren't taking things seriously enough, like their workouts or these weekly family meetings. Everybody talks to me about texting me, we're going to have this great year, coach. We're going to do this. We're going to do that. I don't see that shit right now. Let me,

let me explain something to y'all. Tomorrow is April the 20th. We have two and a half weeks of school left. That's it. That's it. Okay. Don't waste a day. Don't waste a moment.

Well, I ain't got a quarterback to throw to me. Don't tell us balls against the damn wall. Well, I ain't got a quarterback to throw to me. Throw tennis balls against the damn wall. Well, I ain't got no weight set. Do push-ups. Ain't no damn excuses. Well, you know, I was inside. We had to stay inside.

Man, you can run in your yard. I don't hear that shit. You can run on the street. Men, I love you. Understand this is coming from a place of love. I want you to be special. We're not going to be special if we can't all get locked in like we are right now. And, man, at the end of the day, that's how we bring joy back to our community

and joy back to our campus, by teeing it up and kicking the piss out of somebody this fall. That's how we do it. That's our part in COVID-19, in case you want to know. And you know why? Damn everything else. That's what makes us feel good. You're going to have rough days. We're going to be there for you.

Even though we can't hug you, we can't physically come see you right now, we are going to freaking be there for you. We're going to talk to you, and when we see you, we're going to hug your neck because we love you. we're going to talk to you. And when we see you, we're going to hug your neck because we love you. But I need a group of men,

a group of men that is locked into this. Everybody feel me on that? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. What Coach Cooley was saying was men get to work. And they did. Yeah, I work out every day.

Stretching. Sometimes I wake up, I stretch. Gotta make sure you're stretching so your muscles don't get tight. Doing push-ups. All my teammates, we do push-ups like every night. We have like a group FaceTime, we do push-ups on. Push-up, do push-up. I tried like 200 more push-ups throughout the day. Running. Lifting weights. I got my YouTube that I can do from home. Lifting weights. These are my weights. It's a kettlebell. I got my weighted vest.

It makes you work harder. You know, once you take it off, you feel lighter on your feet. You can move quicker, faster. You work on your legs, biceps, triceps, your curls, stuff for your traps. And for good measure. Yoga. I try to do yoga every day. And they hit the books. I got some homework to do, so I'm going to do that.

We had to write a final paper on basically everything we learned the whole year. Ended up being like eight pages. You know, if I don't pass my class, I can't play football. I can't do what I love. So I had to figure out a way. Devontre Henderson, the linebacker from Texas, was one of the players who was trying to buckle down. When the pandemic hit, he'd been home in Texas. His books for biology and everything else were 450 miles away in Cleveland, Mississippi.

I thought we was going back to school, so I left my books there. And we had an essay due. I couldn't do the essay because, you know, I just can't go look up stuff on YouTube and write an essay. You know, like, that's incorrect information. Like, you want accurate information. So Devontre borrowed his mom's car for a day. Just in time to pack all my stuff, clean out my dorm, grab all my stuff, So Devontre borrowed his mom's car for a day. So now he had his books.

But it was hard to study in a house with six brothers and sisters. Everyone cooped up because of the pandemic. So Devontre moved to his grandparents' house nearby. Dev I was like, well, I think it's time to go in here and move in with my papa. Devontree's grandfather, Hindu Henderson, needed a fair amount of help around the house. His health wasn't great. My papa was blind. My granny, she had a whole bunch of shrugs,

so it's hard for her to operate. So, you know, so I'm helping out everything I can. I do whatever I can to help them out, you know what I'm saying? Like, my papa took a shower today. I helped him, you know, get cleaned up and stuff. It was a lot quieter there, and Devontre was finally able to study. All right, everybody see my screen? Yes, sir.

April 26th, 15 days left in the semester. Coach Cooley called another meeting. What's important now, right now? What's important right now? That's what we got to focus on. This meeting is right now, okay? Right now, some of you guys might be taking finals this week. If not, you're preparing for finals. Get ahead. Men, finish all assignments. Finish all assignments. We're getting right down here to the end. Coach Cooley had prepared a PowerPoint.

Okay, next slide. Let me explain this. The next slide was a photo of wild horses running through a field. We're going to be able to run wild together, man. It's coming. We've got to prepare like a bunch of horses that have been caged up

and they're finally set loose. That's how we have to be. 100 days, men. In 100 days, we're going to be practicing football. Are you going to be ready? And men, in 202 days, somebody help me out. Who we got in 202 days? Mississippi College. You damn right. Mississippi College. It's coming. It's coming quick. Man, I just want to keep motivating you to let you know it's coming,

man. The next week and a half to two weeks are going to be huge for our football team. Everybody do their part. Prepare for your finals. Attack your finals. After the break, finals. Hi, this is David Remnick, and I'm pleased to share the news that I'm Not a Robot, a live-action short film from the New Yorker's Screening Room series, has been shortlisted for the Academy Awards.

This thought-provoking film grapples with questions that we can all relate to about identity and technology and what it means to be human in an increasingly digital world. I encourage you to watch I'm Not a Robot, along with our full slate of documentary and narrative films, at newyorker.com slash video. Hey, Big Dog, talk to me about what you have the rest of this week in your grades, because they're coming up. Coming into finals week, Coach Cooley called one of his wide receivers, Oakley Coleman, to check in. We got a good shot here, so talk to me. turned in my essay last night, my final essay that I had to do. The coaching staff was keeping a Google Doc on every single player, what classes they were taking, what specific assignments they had due. So Coach Cooley knew that Oakley had been struggling in interpersonal communication ever since the class went online. But Coach Cooley said there was still time.

So my thing is, if you did well on the last two assignments that she's grading, and the essay you just turned in, and then you kill the final, we could be looking at a beat. Yes, sir, definitely, definitely. That's called the fourth quarter finish right there, brother. Yes, sir. Definitely. Definitely. That's called the fourth quarter finish right there, brother. Yes, sir. Meanwhile, Devontae Henderson was also stressing out about finals. Curtis called him to check in.

He'd been up late writing an essay for World History. Last night, I took a little nap for about an hour. It was like 4 o'clock in the morning. I got back up. Went right back on the essay. Turned to the end of the morning. I got back up. Went right back on the essay. Turned it in. Nine o'clock in the morning. I said, ooh, wait. The thing is, the thing is, when I turned it in, I forgot to put my work cited page.

Because I was going back over. I said, this is something I'm missing. And I was like, oh, my work cited page. I had to go back and do that. I turned it back in. And then I looked at it. I said, man, this essay that. I turned it back in. And then I looked at it. I said, man, this essay look, oh, it's something I'm not getting. And I forgot to put make it double space. So I had to go back in there and make it double space. And then I sent it in.

I was like, golly, finally. And then there were the final exams. First ACPR, biology, administration. You got finals in all of those due today? Yes. Which one are you most worried about of those? Which one of those makes you a little nervous? Biology. Biology?

No. Do you know what grade you're getting right now in biology? I got 69. 69. Oh, so you need to do pretty well on this test. You can't bomb this test. Yeah, so I can pass and get a better grade. A week or so later, Curtis talked to Devontre again. And this time, Devontre had some news that wasn't good.

It didn't have anything to do with finals or with school at all. It was about his grandfather, Hindu Henderson. The other night, Devontre was outside when he heard his grandmother calling his name, trying to get his attention. He ran into the house and saw his grandfather on the floor. My granny was in there shaking him, trying to get him up. She was like, wake up, wake up, don't leave me, wake up. I was checking if he had a pulse, but I couldn't even tell if that was my pulse or his pulse. There was no pulse.

Devontre's grandfather was dead. One of the people Devontre wanted to tell was his coach, Coach Cooley. He talked about how much he meant to him, and I said, well, he's still going to be watching you play. You know, watching you perform and watching over you. Coach Cooley said he was proud of how Devontre was handling it. You know, Devontre was, he's sad, but he still got that million dollar smile and he's still like, you know, I know what he wanted for me, coach, and this is what I got to do. All right, guys, we're not going to be here and this is what I got to do. All right.

Guys, we're not going to be here long. I appreciate you guys being here. May 11th, the last day in the semester. Time for one more meeting. We're going to get through this together. Just remember what we talked about. We cannot control what is going on right now. All we control is how we respond to it, how we handle this adversity.

We play football, man. Adversity is just part of what you eat every day. You get up, you go have your eggs, you have some cereal, a little adversity, a little adversity for lunch, a little adversity for dinner. You're used to taking it every day.

Let's respond to it the correct way right now. I love you guys. I'll let you know when we're going to meet again. But right now, we just stay connected with one another, stay connected with your coaches. I can't wait to get back with you guys. Y'all have your business.

I'm proud of y'all. Keep working out. Keep getting your rest. Keep having your business. We're going to get together for tomorrow. Love y'all. The school year had come to a close. And Coach Cooley called Natalie with an update. His men, his players, had done what he needed them to do, what they needed to do for themselves. They passed their classes, almost every one of them, and the team had a collective GPA of 2.99, almost a solid B. And as for Devontre Henderson, the guy who once said about biology,

Lord have mercy, the student whose grandfather had died in the middle of all this, Devontre had finally gotten his grade back from his final exam in biology. Out of a possible score of 150, Devontre scored a 126. That's 84%. He passed. After finals, Devontre could finally celebrate. And the way he celebrated was by going shopping for Mother's Day. If y'all don't know what I'm doing for Mother's Day, since y'all think I'm capping and rapping, you know what I'm saying? I might have to read a look. Yeah.

He decided not just to get a gift for his mom. Devontree put together all these gift bags. He bought candles and bracelets and mini Bundt cakes. We got the cakes, you know what I'm saying? The punny cakes. We're going to pass that out to all the mothers, you feel me? He drove around town handing them out to basically every woman he saw. Y'all pay it forward, man. Take care of your people, man.

You know what I'm saying? Give them their roses while they're still here. After making it through some really tough months, it's time to feel good for a change. We got through it. You know, I'm satisfied with it. I'm moving on to the next thing. I've got to keep pushing. No breaks, you know what I'm satisfied with it. I'm moving on to the next thing. I've got to keep pushing. No breaks, you know what I'm saying?

This fall, if everything goes as planned, Devontree Henderson and the rest of the team will be back in the classroom and back on the field. And pretty soon, they hope, we'll be gathered not for a Zoom meeting, but upstairs in the classroom and back on the field. And pretty soon, they hope, will be gathered not for a Zoom meeting, but upstairs in the field house, in the family meeting room, with their coach. You really can't wait.

Can't wait to see their eyes. Can't wait to, you know, I don't know if you've ever been to a church in the South, you know, people will take time to get up and greet one another, tell everybody they're happy to see them, you know. And I look forward to that. I look forward to that. In the Dark, Coronavirus in the Delta is reported and produced by me, Madeline Barron,

managing producer Samara Fremark, producer Natalie Jablonski, associate producer Raymond Tungakar, and reporter Parker Yesko. Significant additional reporting and production for this episode by Curtis Gilbert. This series was edited by Catherine Winter. The editor-in-chief of APM Reports is Chris Worthington.

This episode was mixed by Corey Schreppel. Original music for this series by Gary Meister. To see photos that accompany our series, you can go to our website, inthedarkpodcast.org. Photography for this series by Ben Depp. We want to give a special thank you to a very special person, someone who's been behind the scenes, helping us on In the Dark every step of the way for the past two and a half years, booking plane tickets, dealing with expense reports, and always having candy ready for late night edits. Shelly Langford, the project coordinator for APM Reports. Shelly is leaving to take a new job. Shelly, we wish you the best. We love you, and we'll miss you.

Hi, this is David Remnick. I'm proud to share the news that three films from the New Yorker documentary series have been shortlisted for the Academy Awards. And they are Incident, Seat 31, Zoe Zephyr, and Eternal Father. And they all immerse you in the finest cinematic journalism, exploring themes of justice, identity, and the bonds that shape us. These extraordinary films, which were created by established filmmakers, as well as emerging artists, will inform, challenge, and move you. I encourage you to watch them along with our full slate of documentary and narrative films at newyorker.com slash video.